Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill Durham — Restaurant in England

I'm giving quite a harsh overall rating simply because the price does not match the quality. If I'd paid £15 for the steak and chips I'd have given it 4 or even 5 stars, but to charge ~£35 for ribeye steak and chips where the meat was full of gristle, dry and very chewy (even though it was cooked medium) is a bit of a joke. The waitress came over and asked how the food was, to which our reply was "not great, chewy, and dry". Her reply was "I'm sorry about that" and walked off. To be fair, the manager asked us more when we went to pay the bill, apologising more and as a gesture of good will waived the mandatory 10% service charge. (Which we went aware was mandatory till the bill arrived). I've waited 4 weeks to write this review because the manager said all comments by customers are taken very seriously by senior management and would be reviewed . They took my phone number and email address, but to date no contact. We explained that had the price been £15, then it would have been a good meal, but at £35, you expect the finest quality. We have eaten in other steak restaurants around the world and know a good steak from a poor one, and can say that Millers and Carter which charge about £25 for a similar steak are orders of magnitude better quality, as is the Kyloe in Edinburgh. I also ate a steak at the marco pierre white in Cardiff 5 years ago and remember it being good quality, but looks like profit is being put above quality now. If your looking for a quality steak, I would not recommend this place, far better steak restaurants at a cheaper price in the area Also the beer quality was very poor too.

Service was OK, the fact they took the time to ask about our views was nice, but the fact they didn't nothing about it means it's just lip service. If you want customers views (eg when you come to the table) do something about it, otherwise, what was the point in asking.

Atmosphere could be nice, beautiful building, but the please was dead, just us and 1 other dinner, so no atmosphere, presumably because others have tried the food and decided they can get better quality else where for...

Not a good experience.

We booked Sunday dinner for mother's day and I was called a few days before to see if we had any accessibility needs as we'd been seated upstairs. Nice to get a call but no explanation that whilst some of the upstairs area overlooks the restaurant, the seats at the back have little to no view. On arrival we were shown to our table at the back, clean and tidy but felt detached from the restaurant. Very little view and none of the atmosphere.

The waitress was friendly and attentive.

Food was not good. My son had a burger which he said was very "grissly", half of the beef on my dinner was fat and my daughter's chicken looked undercooked. This was replaced but the replacement looked only just done too. The restaurant said it was due to being cooked on the bone and wasn't underdone but it was extremely unsightly and off putting. The vegetables and sides were to be fair, very nice. My wife described the cauliflower steak as "fine" but expected a better vegetarian option considering the type of restaurant. Just a bit of a dull option (roasting or garnishing it in some way may have perhaps helped).

Deserts in fairness tasted very good but presentation was effected by being carried upstairs as the ice cream had begun melting and had slipped off. The gravy on my dinner had sloshed round the plate too which again didn't look great.

I mentioned my disappointment as things were being cleared and was told it would be fed back to the kitchen. We paid in full and left, not wanting to complain in front of waiting diners at the front desk.

I contacted the restaurant to complain by email. They were quick to respond and said they would try to address the issues we had in future. They offered us a 50% discount on food if we were to open to trying a Sunday dinner again but we would not want to currently.

I don't write many reviews but unfortunately due to being so underwhelmed, disappointed and off-put by our visit felt I had to share it.

For a world renowned chef-led restaurant in such a beautiful historic building its such a shame it...

We came here for an meal to celebrate a special occasion and alerted them about my allergies which they said would be catered for. We confirmed about my allergies on arrival and was written down on a card on the table. The ambience is actually very nice, the ceilings were high, even though the room looks small but the comfy booths make you feel like your enclosed in a private space.

The afternoon tea was brought out, I felt short changed.. I didnt feel like they made an effort to catered for it. Pieces of fruit to replace the scones is poor effort, I could have made it myself. Id finished the savoury, moved onto the cake and my husband told me to wait because he saw what he thought was nuts on the bottom. We checker with the manager, they returned after speaking to the supplier and confirmed it was nuts. There was an error on the allergen notes which was provided the suppliers and nuts was obviously missed out. This could have been very serious incident as allergens have been in the centre of alot of news reports in recent years. Could have resulted a hospital stay or could have been even worse but thankfully I didn't not eat it.

I appreciate the manager voided the bill and was fully apologetic about the whole situation but it really ruined the mood of the day. I do feel a lesson was learned and allergies is no joke. I left hungry, not exactly what I thought my visit would be but I guess the main thing was I did not consume the cake. Also the female waiter with a light hair and young face was friendly and efficient during service and really listened. I guess Marco Pierre White should stick with fine dining because I think afternoon tea is...